#25: TONIGHT'S THE KNIGHT! Knock 'em not-quite dead!

[laljeterfan]

BWAH!!!! Thanks 00lsee! I loved your response- much more tactful than what I could have mustered!!

Man, haven't seen that movie in years- don't know how I pulled that reference out of my you-know-where!

[jumpingjacks]

WTH controversy is there now?

[atinal]

Soooo, the scandal of the day

Is you can't say "hi Clay"

Oh there simply must me, Arthur, trust me

Simply must be shrews!!!!

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[ldyjocelyn]

atinal, I wuv you. BWAH!

[jumpingjacks]

That's the controversy? Some person on stage said "Hi Clay"? Shoot me now.

[laljeterfan]

WTH controversy is there now?

Yes, the "peasant" called up on the stage had the gall to say "Hi Clay" to him. She has been called out on it for bad fan behavior.

Soooo, the scandal of the day

Is you can't say "hi Clay"

Oh there simply must me, Arthur, trust me

Simply must be shrews!!!!

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

LOL!!!

[Gibby]

I think that clayngel at the CB had a great response to those who are upset that the fan said, 'Hi, Clay':

4) The woman who was called up on stage was adorable! She really didn't look like she knew what to expect and played along with the jokes. When they brought out the little award she went to take it and then I think it was Patsy said "Wait, it's just a nomination!" It was really funny and cute. Now to anyone worrying about embarassing Clay, please don't. I wouldn't have known she was a fan if I wasn't on the board and if she did say "Hi Clay" no one heard it, but him and he is quite capable of staying in character. She did nothing up there that would be considered inappropriate. As someone who was up on stage last with him last week I can tell you it is a little hard to think straight! And for a lot of people the closest they have ever been to him so cut your fellow fans some slack! It is such a fantastic and wonderful experience that I would hate for her to come here and have it ruined and feel guilty for really no reason.

It's off to the salt mines for me!

[Couch Tomato]

Oh good lord.

[00lsee]

Oh good lord.

GOD: What?

[Gibby]

Heeee, Couchie, I agree.

Interesting post from AustenFan at CB:

I've been to several shows (being a local and all) - and the fan response has been GREAT. Ensemble doesn't mean you don't single actors out for applause. It just means giving attention and love to all.

The actor who plays Herbert (Tom Deckman) gets big cheers and screams compared to those who take their bows before him. That's NORMAL. The guy is outstanding. So he gets a bigger reaction. Actors with better timing get bigger laughs. And they SHOULD. They're doing a better job. The big screams and cheers are exciting. It livens up all the actors who get more energy and do better. And if they want to get the same great reaction - they start upping their game and putting more energy into their performance. When Tom Deckman went to sign autographs he told the fans how 'great' we are. Actors love a live audience.

And the worst thing I could imagine is that people would actually believe all that stuff about 'embarrassing behavior' and start to actually do it. We'd be sitting in a silent room getting bored. Even that etiquette list - I've been going to theater and opera for years. I never heard of such a thing. Thankfully I doubt most New Yorkers have. Or they wouldn't be a theater that could stay open. They'd be empty. Really, we're not in court. We won't be sentenced to twenty years if we sit back and just have fun. This show does not take place in a library. If fans really sat in silence, not moving and not cheering and applauding - the cast would likely be very disappointed. They feed off that.

The media makes up negative stuff about Clay. Well they do that to us too Most performers would kill for such great fans. We're nice normal people who react like fans of a sexy, pop star. That's a good thing. Not only are the fan reactions not embarrassing, they're impressive.

The Lady Of The Lake substitute didn't have the stage presence or timing. She didn't get the huge applause the part usually gets. Yes, Hannah Waddingham gets singled out as well And she should. She's wonderful. The lack of Hannah's excitement hurt all those scenes. A great star makes everyone else shine brighter.

As for tonight, the lady on stage was adorable and sweet. And from what I saw, the rest of the audience thought so too. They bring people from the audience on stage. The WHOLE POINT is for these people to act like every day people who are a litte flustered and stage struck. That's part of the show. If they started acting in character and playing Lady to King Arthur like they were trained actors - it would ruin it.

It's supposed to be a joke where the actors let us know it's all a show. Some people get nervous. Some call actors by their real name. One man (not a Clay fan I assure you) - started hamming it up with a joke about the show. The guy who plays King Arthur said in mock anger 'we do the jokes here'. That's the kind of stuff they WANT. For the audience members to act like 'audience members'. That's what makes it funny. They take a Polaroid of them during the show for goodness sake.

After the final bow there's supposed to be a singalong. The actors are waving their arms and keep shouting 'everybody' because people aren't joining in enough. I think the Clay fans are so worried they'll break the etiquette they're not singing and dancing even when they're supposed to and those on stage are almost begging them. This is a show. Not a final exam.

Have fun guys!! Hope to see you there.

In back of me were a man and woman who'd come to the city for a conference. At intermission they said how fantastic the show was and they started talking about Clay. I got the sense they weren't fans but weren't biased either. Just in the middle. They said he was hilarious. And the woman said he looked so professional and then 'well I guess he is by now'. The man said 'he looks like he's having such a great time'. She agreed. After the show they again said how fantastic a show it was. Some young girls were talking about how really good Clay Aiken was. I think they were surprised.

BTW another standing O.

And a little tidbit. I mentioned to my singing teacher that I went to see Spamalot. I didn't say anything about Clay. And she tells me 'oh my friend who had been with the show at one time said 'the new cast was hysterical'. So apparently someone who used to be with the show had a great impression. He didn't say 'that Clay did a good job for a pop singer etc'. He referred to him by the same standard as professional actors in the theater. And thought Clay was wonderful.

[keldanker]

In my opinion, the first report of the "Hi, Clay" seemed as if the audience had heard it. Later it was stated by several attending that the personal greeting was not heard in the audience, so must have been said very quietly.

I do think it is inappropriate to address him as "Clay" during the performance and I said so politely on my home board. That does not, however, mean that I think this lady is a "bad fan." In fact, I know the lady personally. I'm sure she was just excited and didn't even think about it.

And just as her actions do not make her a bad fan, my opinion does not make me a shrew.

I wish that her friend (also a friend of mine) who brought the report to the boards, had thought to leave out that little detail. No one would have known. But, as she explained later, she was excited and just typed what had been told to her on the phone.

[bottlecap]

*Grovels, averts eyes, and avoids looking up God's skirts*

[Ansamcw]

Soooo, the scandal of the day

Is you can't say "hi Clay"

Oh there simply must me, Arthur, trust me

Simply must be shrews!!!!

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

BWAH!!!!

I think some fans are concerned that the fans that get up on the stage are starting to make it more about them and an opportunity to talk to Clay... I think this is based on one fan saying her name was Claystein and another saying hi to Clay.

IMO...its totally not new to the spamalot cast and crew that Clay has tons of fans in the audience...the show is about being silly so I don;t think this is going to be a surprise to them for a fan to acknowledge Clay.

I also think that everytime Clay has some audience participation bit, some other fans start worrying about someone going overboard but so far the fans that have participated have acted really great...I really think we should just relax and not get all bent out of shape about every little thing.

[atinal]

In my opinion, the first report of the "Hi, Clay" seemed as if the audience had heard it. Later it was stated by several attending that the personal greeting was not heard in the audience, so must have been said very quietly.

I do think it is inappropriate to address him as "Clay" during the performance and I said so politely on my home board. That does not, however, mean that I think this lady is a "bad fan." In fact, I know the lady personally. I'm sure she was just excited and didn't even think about it.

And just as her actions do not make her a bad fan, my opinion does not make me a shrew.

keldanker, my apologies. I was trying to make a joke of what I was seeing as once again an over reaction to something fairly minor.

[laljeterfan]

I do think it is inappropriate to address him as "Clay" during the performance and I said so politely on my home board. That does not, however, mean that I think this lady is a "bad fan." In fact, I know the lady personally. I'm sure she was just excited and didn't even think about it.

And just as her actions do not make her a bad fan, my opinion does not make me a shrew.

I probably should have kept my mouth shut and not made any mention of it on this board at all, as it wasn't already a topic of conversation.

I don't see anything at all wrong with politely expressing your opinion-however, I saw some reactions that went WAY OTT, if you know what I mean. I think her (the fan onstage) reaction was fairly benign, and she didn't deserve being kicked around by some who didn't agree.

keldanker-{{{hugs}}} (Where's that hug emoticon when you need it???)

[playbiller]

I think the problem is that the people who are being called on stage are not prepared and trained thesbian fans with extensive stage experience and do not recognize and have not rehearsed their roles, hence they sometimes act like real people instead of a proper trained role playing the fan character. Obviously, they have not studied the ettiquette rules that were published a while ago on a few boards that was put together by the "people who know" how to act in a theatre and must be obeyed because, well, they must! I guess only proper theater people or the people who put together the ettiqutte post should be allowed to buy the magic seat numbers so they can show otehrs how it is done by calling people on stage the proper medieval names ....or would that be considered intrusive since they are writing themselves into a script?

I think some people have no concept of Monty Python and the planned chaos that is always associated with it.

I guess I should stay off other boards after last night, watching fan on fan action tends to make me bitchy.

I was going to put a cute picture in this icky post, but photobucket is not working.

ooh, Doctor phil is on the View to explain what happened with Britney and why he shot off his big mouth. Got to turn channels now!

ETA - reading BC's comment reminds me taht now several people have reported sittting near the stage and lookig up Clay's tunic - once is funny, but now - Which is worse? Saying Hi Clay quietly or reporting what is under Clay's tunic? It is a judgement/taste question - it is about saying it once and moving on. I am moving on now. How about those Giants?

[djs111]

I guess I'll wait to be outraged when someone gets chosen to go up on the stage and hands the rest of the cast CNN cards and clack, and then tells Clay what kind of songs should be on his next CD and gives him their board name.

[djs111]

yikes

[00lsee]

Thought I'd bring this over, since I posted it late last night when the "controversy" first started heating up.

*********************

David Hyde Pierce made an interesting observation on

. At about 2:25, when asked about audience behavior, he describes a family sitting on the front row passing a bag of potato chips back and forth between them.

Mr. Pierce said, "The bad thing is that it drives you insane and you want to kill them (laughs from women), but the good thing is they're probably people who have never been to a Broadway show before, which means we're bringing people to the theater who have never been there."

Now, granted, Mr. Pierce seems to be a classy, thoughtful guy, but I doubt his optimistic attitude is all that rare among actors hoping their show or their star players will bring in the masses.

Looking on the bright side, at least nobody threw up, as he described one audience member doing. It's live theater. Wheee!!!!

***************************

For what it's worth.

[Ansamcw]

I do think it is inappropriate to address him as "Clay" during the performance and I said so politely on my home board. That does not, however, mean that I think this lady is a "bad fan." In fact, I know the lady personally. I'm sure she was just excited and didn't even think about it.

And just as her actions do not make her a bad fan, my opinion does not make me a shrew.

I probably should have kept my mouth shut and not made any mention of it on this board at all, as it wasn't already a topic of conversation.

I don't see anything at all wrong with politely expressing your opinion-however, I saw some reactions that went WAY OTT, if you know what I mean. I think her reaction was fairly benign, and she didn't deserve being kicked around by some who didn't agree.

keldanker-{{{hugs}}} (Where's that hug emoticon when you need it???)

don;t worry about it ...it is an interesting issue and I was just about to mention it here when you started the discussion.

I never saw your post keldanker and I don't think sharing of opinions is a problem. But I also saw a lot of reactions where people seem to want to shame the fans that were having very natural reactions. It will be a shame if people's reaction will taint this special memory for this fan.

[playbiller]

My cartoon that I could not get to work for theend of my post up there

[luckiest1]

ETA - reading BC's comment reminds me taht now several people have reported sittting near the stage and lookig up Clay's tunic - once is funny, but now - Which is worse? Saying Hi Clay quietly or reporting what is under Clay's tunic? It is a judgement/taste question - it is about saying it once and moving on. I am moving on now. How about those Giants?

[laljeterfan]

I do think it is inappropriate to address him as "Clay" during the performance and I said so politely on my home board. That does not, however, mean that I think this lady is a "bad fan." In fact, I know the lady personally. I'm sure she was just excited and didn't even think about it.

And just as her actions do not make her a bad fan, my opinion does not make me a shrew.

I probably should have kept my mouth shut and not made any mention of it on this board at all, as it wasn't already a topic of conversation.

I don't see anything at all wrong with politely expressing your opinion-however, I saw some reactions that went WAY OTT, if you know what I mean. I think her reaction was fairly benign, and she didn't deserve being kicked around by some who didn't agree.

keldanker-{{{hugs}}} (Where's that hug emoticon when you need it???)

don;t worry about it ...it is an interesting issue and I was just about to mention it here when you started the discussion.

I never saw your post keldanker and I don't think sharing of opinions is a problem. But I also saw a lot of reactions where people seem to want to shame the fans that were having very natural reactions. It will be a shame if people's reaction will taint this special memory for this fan.

Man, seeing my own words re-written makes me realize how unclear they are- even to me, and I knew what I was writing! When I say I think HER reaction was fairly benign, I'm referring to the Clay fan who was brought onstage- although my post almost makes it sound like I'm referring to keldanker's expression of her opinion, and reactions to that. Did I make myself clearer, or am I just confusing myself (and everyone else) even more???

As to the part I bolded in Ansamcw's post, I know how this can be. I was in a M&G over the summer, and one of the questions I asked was how long Clay was going to be with RCA, (I meant to ask the question in terms of whether it was determined by # of years vs # of albums produced, but it didn't come out that way.) This led to his "the devil you know...." quote. I didn't think it was a horrible or invasive question, but one of the other fans in the M&G, while writing up their recap, made sarcastic reference to me asking the question, and how SHE couldn't believe that someone would ask him that, and yeah, it left me feeling bad and questioning myself as to whether I has said or done anything innappropriate. I'm somewhat sensitive to that kind of thing now.

[wandacleo]

All this excessive fan policing and deciding who are good fans and who are bad fans and blasting them on the boards makes me want to puke.

[cindilu2]

Give me a choice on the puking scale about a young fan saying 'Hi Clay' , or (any) fan looking up (and reporting on) his tunic, and I'll take the 'Hi Clay' any day.

I freely admit to squealing at things he did at each and every performance. I also squealed at Dennis and Lance and Herbert too, though. Bad me!!! It's a delightful, shrieks-of-laughter inducing show. And they invite audience participation during the peasant scene - so I'm sure that whatever happens, they are prepared to deal with it in a funny, Python way. Whatevs!